Total Annihilation: Survivors
by paintballer
Summary: A small group of Arm troops are all that remain of a larger assault force defeated at the Galatic Gate on Lusch. They are outnumbered, and they are hunted, but their commanding officer will not let them die without a fight.


A/N: I've been out of TA for some time recently, but after listening to the soundtrack off the CD, I'm inspired to right this story. It will be a one shot short story, meaning, only one chapter. Hope you like it. Also note that there are a few "artistic liberties" taken.  
  
Total Annihilation: Survivors  
  
The suns were setting on the tropical haven of Lush. The CORE had chosen this planet for this very purpose, as it was an excellent site for solar energy collection, which could then be shipped back to Core Prime for distribution. It was also a logical strategic location, as the vibrant plant life and watery marshes severly hindered any units except for Hovercraft. The Core were not about to lose this planet to ARM. However, the galatic gate had been comprimised a few days prior, and a small Arm force was unaccounted for in the resulting slaughter.  
  
Central Consciousness had determined that they must have had several rader jamming units with them to escape Core so easily. However, deeming them a small threat, Core did not increase all of its patrol squads to a minimum of ten A.K.s and various hovercraft. Increased radar scanning was exercised as well as extensive bombing raids conducted on every area where so much as a blimp of activity was reported.  
  
Silently, several K-bot legs manuevered over the dense jungle atmosphere. Switching their night sensors on, each of them were able to see their path, without attracting too much attention. They had been marching for a good three hours, when one of the Markys in their group came rushing forward to the squad commander, a Maverick.  
  
"Sir, sir! I'm picking up an unidentified Core unit in our path!" he shouted earnestly over the comm channel.  
  
The proud unit turned around to face the whizzing bot, his gold plated shoulder armor signifying his rank. He closed the gap between himself and the Marky, and stood well over him.   
  
"Calm down 876, and find out what it is." he said calmly to the nervous Marky, being a radar unit, he was unarmed and after the defeat of most of the Arm force they came through the galactic gate, no one could diswade him from his conclusion that they were all going to die.  
  
"Aye sir, scanning..." he squated down, and began getting information back. Two panels came out of his leg struts and latched onto the ground. His two radar dishes spun over and over, trying to pick out what the Core unit was. After a few minutes, he withdrew his panels, and stood up straight. "Based on seismic readouts, and energy emmissions, I can only conclude that it is a lone A.K., sir."  
  
The commmander had a slight chuckle to himself and responded, "Just an A.K.? I was hopeing for a Krogoth myself." he said, making the calmed Marky nervous again at the thought of the mighty Core unit. "Alright everyone, power down, hide off to the sides anywhere you can, make certain that you aren't visible, and do not under any circumstances engage, unless I give the order." Upon his orders, the squad moved to various places, hiding where ever there was enough room for their chasis.   
  
"PeeWee group powered down, Zipper group powered down, Eraser group functioning at minimal power, Flash group powered down..." multiple unit groupings reported their status, until all except the commander himself were shutdown. Even as he powered his own unit down, he could hear the metal pounding of the A.K.'s feet along the mushy ground. He was walking along completely oblivious until his scanners went off, detecting movement to his right. His torso swiveled to quickly point his dual gun arms in the direction of his concern. He scanned the entire area, yet found nothing, the Core pattern could not understand it, if it had just been wild life, surely he would have picked up something.   
  
After a moment of speculation, he was redirected by Central Concsiousness, and moved on. However, as he walked, he spun around yet again as he detected more movement, but this time he could see just enough of an Arm PeeWee leg sticking out from a tree. He was about to fire when he noticed another leg, then over a ways a gun, he was outnumbered, he had to report back. He began running with all the power he could thrust into his legs and was not far off when a PeeWee powered up, and chased after him.  
  
"Die Core!" was the shout that resounded over the comm channel. After he began pursuit, the rest of the Arm force booted up as well. The commander stepped out and sent a radio transmission to the vigilante kbot. "PeeWee 625, Get back here! PeeWee 625, Respond!" the commander shouted, being quite angered by the infantry unit's direct disregard for orders. "Jenkins! Disengage! Disengage!......." he continued, but finally let out a sigh when he could see that Jenkins either wasn't responding, or didn't turn his radio back on, either way, he was in a jam. Jam... jam... that was it! "Alright... looks like we'll have to do this the hard way. Eraser Alpha II, I want you to jam that A.K.'s transmissions, do NOT let him signal the Core base, or we're finished." the radar jamming unit replied, and quickly got about performing his task.   
  
"Zippers 087 and 088, follow after them, but do not destroy the A.K., I want you to force him over to the nearby lake. Shooter... shooter! Bullseye! Where are you!" the Maverick asked intensively, until his heart skipped a beat when the cloaked K-bot appeared right in front of his unit.   
  
"You called Anthony?" a female voice asked over the comm, with a seductive and mocking tone. The Maverick shoved the sniper bot out of his face and resisted the urge to shoot her right there. "Yes, I called, I'm sure you're aware of the situation, there is a rogue A.K. that knows our position, I want him dead. There is a hill on that side of the valley, get up there, and pop that bot when he comes near the lake shore."  
  
"Aye, aye commander. I've been wanting to put another mark on my generator anyway." she said, then blew a kiss and walked off into the forest, cloaking as she went. Anthony again resisted the urge to draw his dual plasma pistols and destroy her. "If it weren't for our mobile generator, she'd be dead by now, she's cocky, I hate that in a soldier."   
  
"Ha ha! Run A.K.! Run!" Jenkins said jubulently as he shot his double EMG guns at the fleeing pattern. So far he'd shot off one of the gun arms, and was attempting to cripple a leg. His comm channel blared as two Zippers took up point in front of him. "PeeWee 625, this is Zipper 088, our orders are to drive the Core unit to the lake shore, and keep him there."  
  
"Yeah right, I've almost got him killed now, and if you two give me a hand, he'll be dead before you know it." Jenkins replied. "Our orders are to drive him.." the Zipper was cut off with the following statement "I don't care about orders 088, he's mine!"  
  
"This should do, time to unload, and set up." Bullseye said to herself, standing high atop a hill, above the trees, giving her a perfect vantage point. "I just hope no Finks are out tonight."  
  
Having only gotten off one or two shots, the desperate A.K. was forced right into their trap, he soon stood on the banks of the lake, which had been ascribed a typical designation by the Core. He turned around to see the three units closing in on him, the PeeWee seemed to be the only one trying to kill him, whereas the two Zipper units had only shot at him, steering him to this very spot. He charged his weapon, ready to fight to the finish, he had no where else to go, this was it. As PeeWee 625 ran out of the trees, the A.K. released his blast, narrowly missing the head of the Arm infantry k-bot. When he was ready to fire again, he aimed for one of the two Zippers that had just exited the jungle type area. Charging, charging.....  
  
"Charging.... almost there, just a few more seconds..."  
  
"Goodbye Arm." the unit said in a monotone voice, when he was ready to fire, a blue streak of death shot across the sky, pierced his power coupling, and initiated an overload. A fraction of a second after the shot was fired, he exploded into many fragments of burning metal. The comm channel opened for the last time to all units. "Good job everyone, report back immediately. Oh and Jenkins when we get off this rock, your hide, is mine...." 


End file.
